Nathaniel Parker Willis (January 20, 1806 – January 20, 1867), also known as
N. P. Willis, was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
authorAn author is defined both as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created...
,
poetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and
editorEditing is the process of selecting and preparing language, images, sound, video, or film through processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications in various media...
who worked with several notable American writers including
Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the...
and
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American educator and poet whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and "Evangeline"...
. He became the highest-paid magazine writer of his day. For a time, he was the employer of former slave and future writer Harriet Jacobs. His brother was the composer Richard Storrs Willis and his sister wrote under the name
Fanny FernFanny Fern was the pseudonym of Sara Willis Parton. She was a popular American columnist, humorist, novelist, and author of children's stories in the 1850s-1870s. Her immense popularity has been attributed to her conversational style and the immediacy of her topics to her mostly middle-class...
.
Born in
Portland, MainePortland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2007 estimated city population was 62,875. Portland is Maine's cultural, social and economic capital. It is also the principal city of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area, with...
, Willis came from a family of publishers. His grandfather owned newspapers in Massachusetts and Virginia, and his father was the founder of
Youth's CompanionThe Youth's Companion was an American children's magazine. It was published for over one hundred years until it finally merged with American Boy in 1929....
, the first newspaper specifically for children. Willis developed an interest in literature while attending
Yale CollegeYale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
and began publishing poetry. After graduation, he worked as an overseas correspondent for the
New York MirrorThe New-York Mirror was a newspaper published in New York City under many variant titles, including The Evening Mirror from 1844 to 1898.-History:...
. He eventually moved to New York and began to build his literary reputation. Working with multiple publications, he was earning about US$100 per article and between $5,000 and $10,000 per year. In 1846, he started his own publication, the
Home Journal, which was eventually renamed
Town & CountryTown & Country, formerly the Home Journal and The National Press, is a monthly American lifestyle magazine. It is the oldest continually published general interest magazine in the United States-Early history:...
. Shortly after, Willis moved to a home on the
Hudson RiverThe Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. It rises at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains, flows past Albany, and finally forms the border between New York City and New Jersey at its mouth before emptying into...
where he lived a semi-retired life until his death in 1867.
Willis embedded his own personality into his writing and addressed his readers personally, specifically in his
travel writingTravel writing is a style of writing that describes a place, usually using humorous and opinionated views, personal to the writer, or serious and greatly descriptive prose....
s, so that his reputation was built in part because of his character. Critics, including his sister in her novel
Ruth HallRuth Hall: a Domestic Tale of the Present Time is a roman à clef by Fanny Fern , a popular 19th-century newspaper writer. Following on her meteoric rise to fame as a columnist, she signed a contract in February 1854 to write a full-length novel...
, occasionally described him as being effeminate and Europeanized. Willis also published several poems, tales, and a play. Despite his intense popularity for a time, at his death Willis was nearly forgotten.
Early life and family
Nathaniel Parker Willis was born January 20, 1806, in Portland, Maine. His father Nathaniel Willis was a newspaper proprietor there and his grandfather owned newspapers in Boston, Massachusetts and western Virginia. His mother was Hannah Willis (
née Parker) from
Holliston, MassachusettsHolliston is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States in the Greater Boston area. The population was 13,801 at the 2000 census. It is part of the region known as MetroWest. Holliston is the only town in Middlesex County that borders both Norfolk and Worcester counties.-History:...
and it was her husband's offer to edit the
Eastern Argus in Maine that caused their move to Portland. Willis's younger sister was Sara Willis Parton, who would later become a writer under the
pseudonymA pseudonym is a fictitious name used by a person, or sometimes, a group.Pseudonyms are often used to hide an individual's real identity, as with writers' pen names, graffiti artists, resistance fighters' or terrorists' noms de guerre and computer hackers' handles. Actors, musicians, and other...
Fanny FernFanny Fern was the pseudonym of Sara Willis Parton. She was a popular American columnist, humorist, novelist, and author of children's stories in the 1850s-1870s. Her immense popularity has been attributed to her conversational style and the immediacy of her topics to her mostly middle-class...
. His brother, Richard Storrs Willis, became a musician and music journalist known for writing the melody for "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear". His other siblings were Lucy Douglas (born 1804), Louisa Harris (1807), Julia Dean (1809), Mary Perry (1813), Edward Payson (1816), and Ellen Holmes (1821).
In 1816, the family moved to Boston, where Willis's father established the
Boston Recorder and, nine years later, the
Youth's CompanionThe Youth's Companion was an American children's magazine. It was published for over one hundred years until it finally merged with American Boy in 1929....
, the world's first newspaper for children. The elder Willis's emphasis on religious themes earned him the nickname "Deacon" Willis. After attending a Boston grammar school and
Phillips AcademyPhillips Academy is a co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9-12...
at
AndoverAndover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2000 census population was 31,247. It is part of the Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Massachusetts-New Hampshire metropolitan statistical area....
, Nathaniel Parker Willis entered
Yale CollegeYale College was the official name of Yale University from 1718 to 1887. The name now refers to the undergraduate part of the university. Each undergraduate student is assigned to one of 12 residential colleges.-Residential colleges:...
in October 1823 where he roomed with
Horace BushnellHorace Bushnell was an American Congregational clergyman and theologian.-Life:Bushnell was a Yankee born in the village of Bantam, township of Litchfield, Connecticut. He attended Yale College where he roomed with future magazinist Nathaniel Parker Willis. Willis credited Bushnell with teaching...
. Willis credited Bushnell with teaching him the proper technique for sharpening a razor by "drawing it from heel to point both ways ... the two cross frictions correct each other". At Yale, he further developed an interest in literature, often neglecting his other studies. He graduated in 1827 and spent time touring parts of the United States and Canada. In
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
, he met
Chester HardingChester Harding , American portrait painter, was born at Conway, Massachusetts.Brought up in the wilderness of New York state, Harding, as a lad of splendid physique, standing over 6 feet 3 inches, marched as a drummer with the militia to the St Lawrence in 1813...
, with whom he would become a lifelong friend. Years later, Harding referred to Willis during this period as "the 'lion' of the town". Willis began publishing poetry in his father's
Boston Periodical, often using one of two literary personalities under the
pen nameA pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
s "Roy" (for religious subjects) and "Cassius" (for more secular topics). The same year, Willis published a volume of poetical
Sketches.
Literary career
In the latter part of the 1820s, Willis began contributing more frequently to magazines and periodicals. In 1829, he served as editor for the
gift bookGift books, or literary annuals, were 19th century books, often lavishly decorated, which collected essays, short fiction, and poetry. They were primarily published in the autumn, in time for the holiday season and were intended to be given away rather than read by the purchaser...
The Token, making him the only person to be editor in the book's 15-year history besides its founder,
Samuel Griswold GoodrichSamuel Griswold Goodrich was an American author, better known under the pseudonym Peter Parley.-Biography:Goodrich was born at Ridgefield, Connecticut as the son of a Congregational minister...
. That year, Willis founded the
American Monthly Magazine, which began publishing in April 1829 until it was discontinued in August 1831. He blamed its failure on the "tight purses of Boston culture" and moved to Europe to serve as foreign editor and correspondent of the
New York MirrorThe New-York Mirror was a newspaper published in New York City under many variant titles, including The Evening Mirror from 1844 to 1898.-History:...
. In 1832, while in Florence, Italy, he met
Horatio Greenough-Biography:The son of David and Elizabeth Bender, he was born in Boston on September 6, 1805, into a home with ethics for honesty and emphasis on good education. Horatio sparked an interest in artistic and mechanical hobbies, showing his native skills and talents at a young age...
, who sculpted a bust of the writer. Between 1832 and 1836, Willis contributed a series of letters for the
Mirror, about half of which were later collected as
Pencillings by the Way, printed in London in 1835. The romantic descriptions of scenes and modes of life in Europe sold well despite the then high price tag of $7 a copy. The work became popular and boosted Willis's literary reputation enough that an American edition was soon issued.
Despite this popularity, he was censured by some critics for indiscretion in reporting private conversations. At one point he fought a bloodless duel with Captain
Frederick MarryatCaptain Frederick Marryat was an English novelist, a contemporary and acquaintance of Charles Dickens, noted today as an early pioneer of the sea story...
, then editor of the
Metropolitan Magazine, after Willis sent a private letter of Marryat's to
George Pope MorrisGeorge Pope Morris was an American editor, poet, and songwriter.-Life and work:With Nathaniel Parker Willis, he co-founded the daily New York Evening Mirror by merging his fledgling weekly New York Mirror with Willis's American Monthly in August 1831...
, who had it printed. Still, in 1835 Willis was popular enough to introduce
Henry Wadsworth LongfellowHenry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American educator and poet whose works include "Paul Revere's Ride", The Song of Hiawatha, and "Evangeline"...
to important literary figures in England, including
Ada ByronAugusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace , born Augusta Ada Byron, was the only legitimate child of poet Lord Byron...
, daughter of
Lord ByronGeorge Gordon Byron, later Noel, 6th Baron Byron, of Rochdale, FRS, and commonly known today as Lord Byron was an English poet and a leading figure in Romanticism...
.
While abroad, Willis wrote to a friend, "I should like to marry in England". He soon married Mary Stace, daughter of General William Stace of
WoolwichWoolwich is a suburb in south-east London, England in the London Borough of Greenwich, on the south side of the River Thames, though the tiny exclave of North Woolwich is on the north side of the river. Woolwich formed part of Kent until 1889 when the County of London was created...
, on October 1, 1835, after a month-long engagement. The couple took a two-week
honeymoonA honeymoon is the traditional holiday taken by newlyweds to celebrate their marriage in intimacy and seclusion...
in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. The couple moved to London where, in 1836, Willis met
Charles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens FRSA , pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era and one of the most popular of all time. He created some of literature's most memorable characters. His novels and short stories have never gone out of print...
, who was working for the
Morning Chronicle at the time.
In 1837, Willis and his wife returned to the United States and settled at a small estate on
Owego CreekOwego is a town in Tioga County, New York, USA. The population was 20,365 at the 2000 census. The name is derived from the Iroquois word Ahwaga, meaning where the valley widens....
in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, just above its junction with the
Susquehanna RiverThe Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At approximately 444 mi long, it is the longest river on the American east coast, the 16th longest in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United States without commercial boat traffic...
. He named the home Glenmary and the rural setting inspired him to write
Letters from under a Bridge. On October 20, 1838, Willis began a series of articles called "A New Series of Letters from London", one of which suggested an illicit relationship between writer
Letitia Elizabeth LandonLetitia Elizabeth Landon , English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L. E. L.- Early life :...
and editor William Jordan. The article caused some scandal, for which Willis's publisher had to apologize.
On June 20, 1839, Willis's play
Tortesa, the Usurer premiered in Philadelphia at the Walnut Street Theatre.
Edgar Allan PoeEdgar Allan Poe was an American writer, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the...
called it "by far the best play from the pen of an American author". That year, he was also editor of the short-lived periodical
The Corsair, for which he enlisted William Makepeace Thackery to write short sketches of France. Another major work,
Two Ways of Dying for a Husband, was published in England during a short visit there in 1839–1840. Shortly after returning to the United States, his personal life was touched with grief when his first child was
stillbornA stillbirth occurs when a fetus which has died, in the uterus or during labor or delivery, exits a woman's body. The term is often used in distinction to live birth or miscarriage. Most stillbirths occur in full term pregnancies....
on December 4, 1840. He and Stace had a second daughter, Imogen, who was born June 20, 1842.
Later that year, Willis attended a ball in honor of Charles Dickens in New York. After dancing with Dickens's wife, Willis and Dickens went out for "
rum toddy-Variations:Although there are many variations, essential ingredients are:*a hot beverage which may be tea, coffee, cocoa, water, apple cider, etc.*an alcoholic spirit such as brandy, rum, or whisky.*usually a sweetener, such as honey, sugar or syrup....
and broiled oysters". By this time, his fame had grown enough that he was often invited to lecture and recite poetry, including his presentation to the
Linonian Society-History:Linonia was founded in 1753 as Yale University's second literary and debating society. By the late eighteenth century, all incoming freshmen at Yale College became members either of Linonia or its rival society, Brothers in Unity, which was founded in 1768...
at Yale on August 17, 1841. Willis was invited to submit a column to the each weekly issue of
Brother Johnathan, a publication from New York with 20,000 subscribers, which he did until September 1841. By 1842, Willis was earning the unusually-high salary of $4,800 a year. As a later journalist remarked, this made Willis "the first magazine writer who was tolerably well paid".
In 1842, Willis employed Harriet Jacobs, an escaped slave from
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
, as a house servant and nanny. When her owners sought to have her returned to their plantation, Willis's wife bought her freedom for $300. Nearly two decades later, Jacobs would write in her fictionalized autobiography
Incidents in the Life of a Slave GirlIncidents in the Life of a Slave Girl is a book that was published in 1861 by Harriet Jacobs, using the pen name "Linda Brent". While on one level it chronicles the experiences of Harriet Jacobs as a slave, and the various humiliations she had to endure in that unhappy state, it also deals with...
, which she began composing while while working for the Willis family, that she "was convinced that ... Nathaniel Parker Willis was proslavery". Willis is depicted as "Mr. Bruce", an unattractive Southern sympathizer in the book. One of Willis's tales, "The Night Funeral of a Slave", featured an abolitionist who visits the South and regrets his anti-slavery views;
Frederick DouglassFrederick Douglass Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, (born circa 1818 February 20, 1895) was an American abolitionist, women's suffragist, editor, orator, author, statesman and reformer...
later used the work to criticize Northerners who were pro-slavery.
Evening Mirror
Returning to
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
, Willis reorganized, along with George Pope Morris, the weekly
New York Mirror as the daily
Evening Mirror in 1844 with a weekly supplement called the
Weekly Mirror, in part due to the rising cost of
postageMail, or post, is a method for transmitting information and tangible objects, wherein written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal...
. By this time, Willis was a popular writer (a joke was that
Johann Wolfgang von GoetheJohann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and polymath. Goethe's works span the fields of poetry, drama, literature, theology, philosophy, humanism and science. Goethe's magnum opus, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature, is the two-part drama Faust...
was Germany's version of N. P. Willis) and one of the first commercially-successful magazine writers in America. In the fall of that year, he also became the first editor of the annual gift book
The OpalThe Opal, A Pure Gift for the Holy Days, was an annual gift book, founded by Rufus Wilmot Griswold and published in New York by John C. Riker, from 1844 to 1849. Content included short stories, illustrations and poems....
founded by
Rufus Wilmot GriswoldRufus Wilmot Griswold was an American anthologist, editor, poet, and critic. Born in Vermont, Griswold left home when he was 15. He worked as a journalist, editor, and critic in Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere. He built up a strong literary reputation, in part due to his 1842 collection...
. During this time, he became the highest-paid magazine writer in America, earning about $100 per article and $5,000 per year, a number which would soon double. Even the popular poet Longfellow admitted his jealousy of Willis's salary.
As a critic, Willis did not believe in including discussions of personalities of writers when reviewing their works. He also believed that, though publications should discuss political topics, they should not express party opinions or choose sides. The
Mirror flourished at a time when many publications were discontinuing. Its success was due to the shrewd management of Willis and Morris and the two demonstrated that the American public could support literary endeavors. Willis was becoming an expert in American literature and so, in 1845, Willis and Morris issued an
anthologyAn anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
,
The Prose and Poetry of America.
While Willis was editor of the
Evening Mirror, it was the first to publish Poe's poem "
The Raven"The Raven" is a narrative poem by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in January 1845. It is often noted for its musicality, stylized language, and supernatural atmosphere. It tells of a talking raven's mysterious visit to a distraught lover, tracing the man's slow descent into...
" in its January 29, 1845, issue. In his introduction, Willis called it "unsurpassed in English poetry for subtle conception, masterly ingenuity of versification, and consistent, sustaining of imaginative lift ... It will stick to the memory of everybody who reads it". Willis and Poe were close friends, and Willis helped Poe financially during his wife
Virginia'sVirginia Eliza Clemm Poe was the wife of American writer Edgar Allan Poe. The couple were first cousins and married when Virginia Clemm was 13 and Poe was 27...
illness and while Poe was suing
Thomas Dunn EnglishThomas Dunn English was an American Democratic Party politician from New Jersey who represented the state's 6th congressional district in the House of Representatives from 1891 to 1895. He was also a published author and songwriter, who had a bitter ongoing feud with Edgar Allan...
for
libelIn law, defamation–also called calumny, libel , slander , and vilification–is the communication of a statement that makes a claim, expressly stated or implied to be factual, that may give an individual, business, product, group, government or nation a negative image...
. Willis often tried to persuade Poe to be less destructive in his criticism and concentrate on his poetry. Even so, Willis published many pieces of what would later be referred to as "The Longfellow War", a literary battle between Poe and the supporters of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whom Poe called overrated and guilty of
plagiarismPlagiarism, as defined in the 1995 Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary, is the "use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work." Within academia, plagiarism by students, professors, or researchers is considered...
. Willis also introduced Poe to
Fanny OsgoodFrances Sargent Osgood was an American poet and one of the most popular women writers during her time...
; the two would later carry out a very public literary flirtation.
Willis's wife Mary Stace died in childbirth on March 25, 1845. Their daughter, Blanche, died as well and Willis wrote in his notebook that she was "an angel without fault or foible". He brought his surviving daughter Imogen to England to be with her mother's family and left her behind when he returned to the United States. In October 1846, he married Cornelia Grinnell, a wealthy Quaker from New Bedford and the adopted daughter of a local Congressman. She was two decades younger than Willis at the time and vocally disliked slavery, unlike her new husband. After the marriage, Willis's daughter Imogen came to live with the newlyweds in New York.
Home Journal
In 1846, Willis and Morris left the
Evening Mirror and attempted to edit a new weekly, the
National Press, which was renamed the
Home Journal after eight months. Their prospectus for the publication, published November 21, 1846, announced their intentions to create a magazine "to circle around the family table". Willis intended the magazine for the middle and lower classes and included the message of upward social mobility, using himself as an example, often describing in detail his personal possessions. When discussing his own social climbing, however, he emphasized his frustrations rather than his successes, endearing him to his audience. He edited the
Home Journal until his death in 1867. It was renamed
Town & CountryTown & Country, formerly the Home Journal and The National Press, is a monthly American lifestyle magazine. It is the oldest continually published general interest magazine in the United States-Early history:...
in 1901, and it is still published under that title as of 2008. During Willis's time at the journal, he especially promoted the works of women poets, including
Frances Sargent OsgoodFrances Sargent Osgood was an American poet and one of the most popular women writers during her time...
,
Anne Lynch BottaAnne Charlotte Lynch Botta was an American poet, writer, teacher and socialite whose home was the central gathering place of the literary elite of her era.-Early life:...
,
Grace GreenwoodSara Jane Lippincott was better known by the pseudonym Grace Greenwood. She was an American author, poet and lecturer. One of the first women to gain access into the Congressional press galleries, she used her questions to advocate for social reform and women's rights.-Biography:thumb|left|Sara...
, and
Julia Ward HoweJulia Ward Howe was a prominent American abolitionist, social activist, and poet most famous as the author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."-Early life and family:...
. Willis and his editors favorably reviewed many works now considered important today, including
Henry David Thoreau'sHenry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, philosopher, and leading transcendentalist...
WaldenWalden by Henry David Thoreau is an American classic. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, and manual for self reliance....
and
Nathaniel Hawthorne'sNathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hathorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and Elizabeth Clarke Manning Hathorne...
The Blithedale RomanceThe Blithedale Romance is Nathaniel Hawthorne's third major romance. In Hawthorne , Henry James called it "the lightest, the brightest, the liveliest" of Hawthorne's "unhumorous fictions."-Plot introduction:...
.
Idlewild
In 1846, Willis settled near the banks of Canterbury Creek near the
Hudson RiverThe Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. It rises at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains, flows past Albany, and finally forms the border between New York City and New Jersey at its mouth before emptying into...
in New York and named his new home Idlewild. When Willis first visited the property, the owners said it had little value and that it was "an idle wild of which nothing could ever be made". He built a fourteen-room "cottage", as he called it, at the edge of a plateau by
Moodna CreekMoodna Creek is a small tributary of the Hudson River that drains eastern Orange County, New York. At 15.5 miles in length from its source at the confluence of Cromline Creek and Otter Kill west of Washingtonville, it is the longest stream located entirely within the county.Despite its small...
next to a sudden drop into a gorge. Willis worked closely with the architect,
Calvert VauxCalvert Vaux , was an architect and landscape designer. He is best remembered as the co-designer , of New York's Central Park....
, to carefully plan each gable and piazza to fully take advantage of the dramatic view of the river and mountains.
Because of failing health Willis spent the remainder of his life chiefly in retirement at Idlewild. His wife Cornelia was also recovering from a difficult illness after the birth of their first child together, a son named Grinnell, who was born April 28, 1848. They had four other children: Lilian (born April 27, 1850), Edith (born September 28, 1853),
BaileyBailey Willis was a geological engineer who worked for the United States Geological Survey , and lectured at two prominent American universities. He also played a key role in getting Mount Rainier designated as a national park in 1899...
(born May 31, 1857), and a daughter that died only a few minutes after her birth on October 31, 1860. Harriet Jacobs was re-hired by Willis to work for the family.
During these last years at Idlewild, Willis continued contributing a weekly letter to the
Home Journal. In 1850 he assisted
Rufus Wilmot GriswoldRufus Wilmot Griswold was an American anthologist, editor, poet, and critic. Born in Vermont, Griswold left home when he was 15. He worked as a journalist, editor, and critic in Philadelphia, New York City, and elsewhere. He built up a strong literary reputation, in part due to his 1842 collection...
in preparing an anthology of the works of Poe, who had
died mysteriouslyThe death of Edgar Allan Poe on October 7, 1849, has remained mysterious: the circumstances leading up to it are uncertain and the cause of death is disputed. On October 3, Poe was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore, Maryland, "in great distress, and ... in need of immediate assistance",...
the year before. Griswold also wrote the first biography of Poe in which he purposely set out to ruin the dead author's reputation. Willis was one of the most vocal of Poe's defenders, writing at one point: "The indictment (for it deserves no other name) is not true. It is full of cruel misrepresentations. It deepens the shadows unto unnatural darkness, and shuts out the rays of sunshines that ought to relieve them".
Willis was involved in the 1850
divorceDivorce or dissolution of marriage is the final termination of a marriage, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between two persons...
suit between the actor
Edwin ForrestEdwin Forrest was an American actor. Forrest was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania of Scottish and German descent.-Acting career:...
and his wife Catherine. In January 1849, Forrest had found a
love letterA love letter is a romantic way to express feelings of love in written form. Sometimes sent in the mail, or by electronic mail, the letter may be anything from a short and simple message of love to a lengthy explanation of feelings.Often letters are preferable to face-to-face contact because they...
to his wife from fellow actor
George W. JamiesonGeorge W. Jamieson was an American actor and lapidary, born in Varick Street, New York. His mother was an American of remarkable talents; his father was an Irishman. At an early age he was apprenticed to a lapidary, and in cutting gems he acquired facility, — his cameos being considered...
. As a result, he and Catherine separated in April 1849. He moved to Philadelphia and filed for divorce in February 1850 though the Pennsylvania legislature denied his application. Catharine went to live with the family of
Parke GodwinParke Godwin was an American journalist associated with New York.-Biography:Parke Godwin was born on February 28, 1816, in Paterson, New Jersey. He became a lawyer and moved to New York City in 1837. He became interested in journalism and by the end of the 1830s was writing for the Evening Post...
and the separation became a public affair, with newspapers throughout New York reporting on supposed infidelities and other gossip.
Willis defended Catharine, who maintained her innocence, in the
Home Journal and suggested that Forrest was merely jealous of her intellectual superiority. On June 17, 1850, shortly after Forrest had filed for divorce in the New York Supreme Court, Forrest beat Willis with a
gutta-perchaGutta-percha is a genus of tropical trees native to Southeast Asia and northern Australasia, from Taiwan south to the Malay Peninsula and east to the Solomon Islands. It is also an inelastic natural latex produced from the sap of these trees, particularly from the species Palaquium gutta...
whipThe word whip describes two basic types of tools:A long stick-like device, usually slightly flexible, with a small bit of leather or cord, called a "popper", on the end. Depending on length and flexibility, this type is often called a riding whip, riding crop or "bat"...
in New York's Washington Square, shouting "this man is the seducer of my wife". Willis, who was recovering from a
rheumatic feverRheumatic fever is an inflammatory disease that may develop two to three weeks after a Group A streptococcal infection . It is believed to be caused by antibody cross-reactivity and can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain...
at the time, was unable to fight back. His wife soon received an anonymous letter with an accusation that Willis was in an adulterous relationship with Catherine Forrest. Willis later sued Forrest for assault and, by March 1852, was awarded $2,500 plus court costs. Throughout the Forrest divorce case, which lasted six weeks, several witnesses made additional claims that Catherine Forrest and Nathaniel Parker Willis were having an affair, including a waiter who claimed he had seen the couple "lying on each other". As the press reported, "thousands and thousands of the anxious public" awaited the court's verdict; ultimately, the court sided with Catherine Forrest and Willis's name was cleared.
Ruth Hall
Willis arbitrarily refused to print the work of his sister Sara Willis ("Fanny Fern") after 1854, though she previously had contributed anonymous book reviews to the
Home Journal. She had recently been widowed, became destitute, and was publicly denounced by her abusive second husband. Criticizing what he perceived as her restlessness, Willis once made her the subject of his poem "To My Wild Sis". As Fanny Fern, she had published
Fern Leaves, which sold over 100,000 copies the year before. Willis, however, did not encourage his sister's writings. "You overstrain the pathetic, and your humor runs into dreadful vulgarity sometimes ... I am sorry that any editor knows that a sister of mine wrote some of these which you sent me", he wrote. In 1854 she published
Ruth Hall, a Domestic Tale of the Present TimeRuth Hall: a Domestic Tale of the Present Time is a roman à clef by Fanny Fern , a popular 19th-century newspaper writer. Following on her meteoric rise to fame as a columnist, she signed a contract in February 1854 to write a full-length novel...
, a barely concealed semi-autobiographical account of her own difficulties in the literary world. Nathaniel Willis was represented as "Hyacinth Ellet", an effeminate, self-serving editor who schemes to ruin his sister's prospects as a writer. Willis did not publicly protest but in private he asserted that, despite his fictitious equivalent, he had done his best to support his sister during her difficult times, especially after the death of her first husband.
Among his later works, following in his traditional sketches about his life and people he has met, were
Hurry-Graphs (1851),
Out-Doors at Idlewild (1854), and
Ragbag (1855). Willis had complained that his magazine writing prevented him from writing a longer work. He finally had the time in 1856, and he wrote his only novel
Paul Fane which was published a year later. The character Bosh Blivins, who served as
comic reliefComic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...
in the novel, may have been based on painter Chester Harding. His final work was
The Convalescent (1859), which included a chapter on his time spent with
Washington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
at
SunnysideSunnyside is a historic house on 10 acres of grounds alongside the Hudson River in Tarrytown, New York. It was formerly the home of noted early American author Washington Irving, best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", and is a National Historic...
.
Final years and death
In July 1860, Willis took his last major trip. Along with his wife, he stopped in
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
and
Yellow Springs, OhioYellow Springs is a village in Greene County, Ohio, United States, and is the location of Antioch University McGregor and the campus of Antioch College. The population was 3,761 at the 2000 census...
, as far west as
Madison, WisconsinMadison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
, and also took a steamboat down the
Mississippi RiverThe Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
to
St. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. With an estimated population of 354,361 in 2008, it is the principal municipality of Greater St. Louis, population 2,866,517, the largest urban area in Missouri and sixteenth largest in the United States...
, and returned through
Cincinnati, OhioCincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. The municipality is located north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border. The population within city limits was estimated to be 333,336 in 2008, making it the state's third largest city...
and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1851, Willis allowed the
Home Journal to break its pledge to avoid taking sides in political discussions when the
Confederate States of AmericaThe Confederate States of America was a separatist political entity existing between 1861 to 1865, established by eleven southern slave states of the United States of America, each of which had previously declared their secession from the United States...
was established, calling the move a purposeful act to bring on war. On May 28, 1861, Willis was part of a committee of literary figures—including
William Cullen BryantWilliam Cullen Bryant was an American romantic poet, journalist, and long-time editor of the New York Evening Post.-Youth and education:...
,
Charles Anderson DanaCharles Anderson Dana was an American journalist, author, and government official, best known for his association with Ulysses S. Grant during the American Civil War and his aggressive political advocacy after the war....
, and
Horace GreeleyHorace Greeley was an American editor of a leading newspaper, a founder of the Liberal Republican Party, a reformer, and a politician...
—to invite
Edward EverettEdward Everett was a Whig Party politician from Massachusetts. Everett was elected to the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate, and also served as President of Harvard University, United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Britain, and Governor of...
to speak in New York on behalf of maintaining the Union. The
Home Journal lost many subscribers during the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
, Morris died in 1864, and the Willis family had to take in boarders and for a time turned Idlewild into a girls' school for income.
Willis was very sick in these final years: he suffered from violent epileptic seizures and, early in November 1866, fainted in the streets, prompting Harriet Jacobs to return to help his wife. Willis died on his sixty-first birthday, January 20, 1867, and was buried in
Mount Auburn CemeteryMount Auburn Cemetery was founded in 1831 as "America's first garden cemetery", or the first "rural cemetery", with classical monuments set in a rolling landscaped terrain...
in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Four days later, the day of his funeral, all bookstores in the city were closed as a token of respect. His pallbearers included Longfellow,
James Russell LowellJames Russell Lowell was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets...
,
Oliver Wendell HolmesOliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. , was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat...
,
Samuel Gridley HoweSamuel Gridley Howe was a prominent 19th century United States physician, abolitionist, and an advocate of education for the blind.-Early Life and Education:...
, and
James Thomas FieldsJames Thomas Fields was an American publisher and author.-Biography:Fields was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His father was a sea captain and died before Fields was three. At the age of 14, Fields took a job at the Old Corner Bookstore in Boston...
.
Reputation
Throughout his literary career, Willis was well-liked and known for his good nature amongst friends. Well-traveled and clever, he had a striking appearance at six feet tall and was typically dressed elegantly. Many, however, remarked that Willis was effeminate, Europeanized, and guilty of "Miss Nancyism". One editor called him "an impersonal passive verb—a pronoun of the feminine gender". A contemporary
caricatureA caricature can refer to a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness...
depicted him wearing a fashionable beaver hat and tightly closed coat and carrying a cane, reflecting Willis's wide reputation as a "
dandyA dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self...
". Willis put considerable effort into his appearance and his fashion sense, presenting himself as a member of an upcoming American aristocracy. As
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. , was an American physician, professor, lecturer, and author. Regarded by his peers as one of the best writers of the 19th century, he is considered a member of the Fireside Poets. His most famous prose works are the "Breakfast-Table" series, which began with The Autocrat...
once said, Willis was "something between a remembrance of
Count D'OrsayAlfred Guillaume Gabriel, Count D'Orsay was a French amateur artist, dandy, and man of fashion in the early- to mid-19th century.-Life:...
and an anticipation of
Oscar WildeOscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish playwright, poet and author of numerous short stories and one novel. Known for his biting wit, he became one of the most successful playwrights of the late Victorian era in London, and one of the greatest "celebrities" of his day...
". Publisher
Charles Frederick BriggsCharles Frederick Briggs , also called C. F. Briggs, was an American journalist, author and editor, born in Nantucket, Massachusetts...
once wrote that "Willis was too Willisy". He described his writings as the "novelty and gossip of the hour" and was not necessarily concerned about facts but with the "material of conversation and speculation, which may be mere rumor, may be the truth". Willis's behavior in social groups annoyed fellow poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. "He is too artificial", Longfellow wrote to his friend
George Washington GreeneGeorge Washington Greene was an American historian as well as the grandson of Major-General Nathanael Greene, who served during the American Revolutionary War.-Biography:...
. "And his poetry has now lost one of its greatest charms for me—its sincerity". E. Burke Fisher, a journalist in Pittsburgh, wrote that "Willis is a kind of national pet and we must regard his faults as we do those of a spoiled stripling, in the hope that he will amend".
Willis built up his reputation in the public at a time when readers were interested in the personal lives of writers. In his writings, he described the "high life" of the "
Upper Ten ThousandUpper Ten Thousand was a term used in the late 19th century to denote Britain's ruling elite; those rich and landed persons and families, titled and untitled, who were thought to control the vast majority of the country's political and financial system. This term included not only landed gentry,...
", a phrase he coined. His travel writings in particular were popular for this reason as Willis was actually living the life he was describing and recommending to readers. Even so, he manufactured a humble and modest persona, questioned his own literary merit, and purposely used titles, such as
Pencillings by the Way and
Dashes at Life With Free Pencil, which downplayed their own quality. His informally-toned editorials, which covered a variety of topics, were also very successful. Using whimsicality and humor, he was purposely informal to allow his personality to show in his writing. He addressed his readers personally, as if having a private conversation with them. As he once wrote: "We would have you ... indulge us in our innocent egotism as if it were all whispered in your private ear and over our iced
MargauxMargaux is a commune in the Gironde department in Aquitaine in south-western France.-Geography:The village lies in the Haut Médoc wine making region on the left bank of the Garonne estuary, north west of the city of Bordeaux.-Wines:...
". When women poets were becoming popular in the 1850s, he emulated their style and focused on sentimental and moral subjects.
In the publishing world, Willis was known as a shrewd magazinist and an innovator who focused on appealing to readers' special interests while still recognizing new talent. In fact, Willis became the standard by which other magazinists were judged. According to writer
George William CurtisGeorge William Curtis was an American writer and public speaker, born in Providence, Rhode Island, of old New England stock.-Biography:...
, "His gayety [sic] and his graceful fluency made him the first of our proper 'magazinists'". For a time, it was said that Willis was the "most-talked-about author" in the United States. Poe questioned Willis's fame, however. "Willis is
no genius–a graceful trifler–no more", he wrote in a letter to James Russell Lowell. "In me, at least, he never excites an emotion." Minor Southern writer Joseph Beckham Cobb wrote: "No sane person, we are persuaded, can read his poetry". Future senator
Charles SumnerCharles Sumner was an American politician and statesman from Massachusetts. An academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the American Civil War and...
reported: "I find Willis is much laughed at for his sketches". Even so, most contemporaries recognized how prolific he was as a writer and how much time he put into all of his writings.
James PartonJames Parton was an England-born American biographer.-Biography:Parton was born in Canterbury, England in 1822. He was taken to the United States when he was five years old, studied in New York City and White Plains, New York, and was a schoolmaster in Philadelphia and then in New York...
said of him:
By 1850 and with the publication of
Hurry-Graphs, Willis was becoming a forgotten celebrity. In August 1853, future
PresidentThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
James A. Garfield discussed Willis's declining popularity in his diary: "Willis is said to be a licentious man, although an unrivaled poet. How strange that such men should go to ruin, when they might soar perpetually in the heaven of heavens". After Willis's death, obituaries reported that he had outlived his fame. One remarked, "the man who withdraws from the whirling currents of active life is speedily forgotten". This obituary also stated that Americans "will ever remember and cherish Nathaniel P. Willis as one worthy to stand with
Fenimore CooperJames Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...
and Washington Irving". In 1946, the centennial issue of
Town & Country reported that Willis "led a generation of Americans through a gate where weeds gave way to horticulture". More modern scholars have dismissed Willis's work as "sentimental prattle" or refer to him only as an obstacle in the progress of his more talented sister as well as Harriet Jacobs. As biographer Thomas N. Baker wrote, Willis is today only referred to as a footnote in relation to other authors.
Selected list of works
Prose
- Sketches (1827)
- Pencillings by the Way (1835)
- Inklings of Adventure (1836)
- À l'Abri; or, The Tent Pitched (1839)
- Loiterings of Travel (1840)
- Dashes at Life with a Free Pencil (1845)
- Rural Letters and Other Records of Thoughts at Leisure (1849)
- People I Have Met (1850)
- Life Here and There (1850)
- Hurry-Graphs (1851)
- Summer Cruise in the Mediterranean (1853)
- Fun Jottings; or, Laughs I have taken a Pen to (1853)
- Health Trip to the Tropics (1854)
- Ephemera (1854)
- Famous Persons and Places (1854)
- Out-Doors at Idlewild; or, The Shaping of a Home on the Banks of the Hudson (1855)
- The Rag Bag. A Collection of Ephemera (1855)
- Paul Fane; or, Parts of a Life Else Untold. A Novel (1857)
- The Convalescent (1859)
Plays
- Bianca Visconti; or, The Heart Overtasked. A Tragedy in Five Acts (1839)
- Tortesa; or, The Userer Matched (1839)
Poetry
- Fugitive Poetry (1829)
- Melanie and Other Poems (1831)
- The Sacred Poems of N. P. Willis (1843)
- Poems of Passion (1843)
- Lady Jane and Humorous Poems (1844)
- The Poems, Sacred, Passionate, and Humorous (1868)
Sources
- Auser, Courtland P. Nathaniel P. Willis. New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1969.
- Baker, Thomas N. Sentiment and Celebrity: Nathaniel Parker Willis and the Trials of Literary Fame. New York, Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-512073-6
- Bayless, Joy. Rufus Wilmot Griswold: Poe's Literary Executor. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1943.
- Beers, Henry A. Nathaniel Parker Willis. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
- Callow, James T. Kindred Spirits: Knickerbocker Writers and American Artists, 1807–1855. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1967.
- Meyers, Jeffrey. Edgar Allan Poe: His Life and Legacy. New York: Cooper Square Press, 1992. ISBN 0815410387
- Pattee, Fred Lewis. The First Century of American Literature: 1770–1870. New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1966.
- Phillips, Mary E. Edgar Allan Poe: The Man. Volume II. Chicago: The John C. Winston Co., 1926.
- Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1941. ISBN 0801857309
- Silverman, Kenneth. Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991. ISBN 0060923318
- Tomc, Sandra. "An Idle Industry: Nathaniel Parker Willis and the Workings of Literary Leisure", American Quarterly. Vol. 49, Issue 4, December 1997: 780–805.
- Yellin, Jean Fagan. Harriet Jacobs: A Life. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Basic Civitas Books, 2004. ISBN 0465092888
External links